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2008 Inner City Riots - The Real Fear
The bottom strata's of American society are being squeezed beyond breaking point. Faced with losing jobs, no medical insurance, higher food prices, homes being foreclosed and a massive wave of illegal immigrants taking the temporary and construction jobs they are getting mad and restless. On television a daily diet of murder, mayhem, and incessant Law and Order repeats, with the rest about rich, pampered white kids strutting around Hollywood Clubs. The Middle Class see their jobs being cut, together with sweat shop conditions in many industries. At the top the CEO's are kicked out of failing industries with hundred million dollar Golden Parachutes. Corrupt financial companies are bailed out with taxpayer money, and Grinning George tells the masses to only borrow what they can pay back. More ..... Political Intelligence - A Growing Industry
The future for entire industries depends on who is elected in November, and the policies they instigate in January 2009. The Energy Industry and the Pharmaceutical Industry in particular are holding their breath. The US cannot afford Universal Healthcare AND Global Military Aggression. In the years ahead the trillion or so borrowed to fight Bush's Folly in Iraq and Afghanistan will have to be repayed, with interest. The dollar is in the toilet, the world is against the United States, Jobs are disappearing, homes are being forclosed and taxation revenue just isn't there for Washington to continue on the present road, let alone embark on Universal Healthcare. Arthur C Clarke Dies
He was passionate about Space, and frustrated about the inability of American Big Business to listen to his warnings. He showed me the piles of letters and photographs warning of the dangers of the "O" rings on the Shuttle. His revelations were either shunned, or fended off with warnings of lawsuits and dire consequences of speaking to the media. The media ignored the calculations of this friendly author, in Sri Lanka. Later when the "O" rings failed, and the Shuttle blew up on take off his warnings were lost in the legal cover ups. What is not clear from this old photograph is that the board behind us, on the stairs of his house and office, are the original Wireless World pieces theorizing the ability of an artificial satellite to be Geostationary and beam down TV and communications. He did go at lengths to point out his original thoughts were for concrete platforms in space, but years later technology improved on concrete and we have today's constellation of Geostationary satellites spanning the equator. Corporate Intelligence
They need to fully understand the trends in politics, and have advance warning of major changes in policy and legislation in the world's major Capitals. Sadly many believe they can learn about the world around them simply by having an academic librarian trawl the Internet with Business Intelligence Software. These BI Suites are great tools for a corporation, but they are tools, and every tool is designed for a specific task, and not for every job in the workshop. Trying to plane wood with a hammer is a good analogy, hammers are great for driving nails into wood, but not for creating a smooth finish. For most of the 20th Century western governments have faced a single powerful enemy, and have developed intelligence networks to gather information focused on that criteria. Today the enemy is of a disorganized, and global nature, with no clearly defined communication, command and control structure, or with clearly defined recognizable uniform. The same with corporate threats, they no longer can be catalogued and conveniently filed with the library cards. The threat can be one's own government, who by changing rules and regulations, or taxation can destroy long established businesses in a very short period of time. That is where the specialist advisors now appearing in Washington, Brussels and major capitals around the world become an essential asset to the effective corporation. They track developments, threats and recognize risks before they become too large to manage. |
Washington, DC March 26th, 2008 -- The metrics are coming together for civil unrest in America's Inner Cities during the hot summer days of 2008. No single factor, No OJ Simpson trial, Rodney King edited tape, just the same converging factors that precipitate Revolts, even Revolutions. 
The financials are out for Washington, DC's lobbying and law firms, and show a huge increase in revenue from Political Intelligence. The ethical consideration of giving clients political intelligence, whilst at the same time lobbying for others to change direction, surpress information, or change legislation has never concerned DC Lawyers, and the new figures show where there is profit there are Lawyers. 
This week it was announced that Arthur C Clarke had died at his home in Sri Lanka. It was during my early days trekking around the world developing satellite communication networks that we first met. I was very surprised during our first meeting when he told me he was honored that I spent time with him. Amazed I recounted all the aspects of satellite communications he had pioneered, to which he replied "Yes, but you are making them happen!" 
European trading companies pioneered the art and craft of Corporate Intelligence long before many of the Nation States, including the United States of America existed. Today the realization is that to compete in the crowded global and multi-cultural marketplace corporations need to know a lot about their allies, and even more about their competitors.